Crowd backs building new town offices rather than renovating Town Hall

By Liz Markhlevskaya

lmark@fosters.com

Thursday, November 15, 2012

BARRINGTON — About 75 residents attended the Building Committee’s informational meeting Wednesday, and most appeared to prefer constructing a new building rather than renovating the old Town Hall to accommodate space needs for the town offices, Recreation Department, library, and School Administrative Unit offices.

Wednesday’s meeting was held to gauge residents’ interest on several building options being examined by the Building Committee. Once committee members reach a consensus on what option would work best, they will recommend that option to selectmen, who will then propose a building option before the voters on the town warrant.

After mold and water damage was discovered at the old Town Hall on Ramsdell Lane in 2010, the town offices were moved to their current location on Route 125, which the town rents at a cost of $40,800 per year. The current space lacks an adequate storage and meeting area, and has poor access and limited parking, said Selectman Keith Pratt, who also serves on the Building Committee.

“We consider it to be temporary,” said Pratt of the current location.

One of the least expensive building options would be to keep renting the current office space and build a new library, at a cost of $5 million.

The current library, located on Ramsdell Lane, is approximately 3,500 square feet, while the projected needs for the library are considered to be 15,000 to 17,000 square feet.

Renovating the old Town Hall, which will cost about $2.3 million, would mean that town offices, the SAU office, and the Recreation Department can all be located in one common space and provide greater efficiency. But the suggested option that would come with the renovation would be to also build a new library with adequate space, at an additional cost of $4.5 million to $5 million, depending on where the new library would be located.

The two suggested building sites are at the property of Calef’s Country Store, next to the post office in the town center, or at the property off Route 9, known as the Clark-Goodwill property. While Calef’s property is privately owned and would have to be purchased by the town, the Clark-Goodwill property is town-owned and would not require additional funds for land purchase.

If the old Town Hall is renovated and a new library is built on Calef’s property, the cost would be roughly $7.1 million. On the Clark-Goodwill property, the cost would be $6.8 million.

Another option is to construct a new community building of about 33,000 square feet, which would be a shared space for town offices, the SAU, Recreation Department, and the library. At Calef’s property, the projected cost would be $8.6 million; at the Clark-Goodwill property, the cost would be $8.3 million.

The most expensive option involves constructing two separate buildings to accommodate the four town uses — this option would cost $9.4 million on Calef’s property and $9 million on the Clark-Goodwill property.

The Clark-Goodwill property has recently been subdivided into six parcels, half of which will be used by Turbocam to build light manufacturing plants. The remaining three parcels will remain town property.

If new construction for town spaces takes place at the Clark-Goodwill property, it will likely be near the future site of the manufacturing plant, across the street from a new public road that Turbocam will build. That same road will provide access to potential future athletic fields on town property and a new building for the American Legion.

Town resident Jill Hilfiker said she liked the idea of having a new public facility such as the library at the Calef’s property. She said that in proximity to the post office, places to get coffee, and areas to walk around, residents would have more of a feeling of having a town center.

Fire Chief Rick Walker said that from a public safety standpoint, he would be concerned about increased traffic on Route 9, in the area near Route 125, if town offices or the library moved to the Calef’s property. From a personal point of view, he said the town would be losing taxable land if it purchases that property.

Town resident Lucille Smith, who lives a half mile from the current library, said she would be concerned for her child’s safety if the library were moved close to Route 125, which sees heavy traffic by local and nonlocal drivers.

“I like the solitude area that the library has. I just like the idea of staying in this area,” said Smith.

Brian Lenzi, chairman of the Building Committee, noted that the current library location does not give the facility the adequate room to expand.

There was also some question at the meeting on whether town voters would approve a multimillion dollar warrant article that would come with the chosen building option — in 2011, voters rejected spending $3.75 million to renovate the old Town Hall.

Toward the end of the meeting, Pratt gauged residents’ preferences by asking them to raise hands if they support particular options. Most in attendance opposed the idea of renovating the old Town Hall and building a new library as phase two of the plan. Almost all objected to leaving the current town offices in the rented space.

A slightly higher number of people supported building on the Clark-Goodwill property than the Calef’s property, but no clear consensus was reached on where the preferred construction area would be.

“I think we got a little more work to do to get feedback,” said Pratt after the meeting.

He said he was slightly surprised residents didn’t seem to like the idea of renovating the old Town Hall.

Pratt also said that if the old Town Hall remains unused, the town can sell the building. He said Barrington also has the option of selling a Clark-Goodwill parcel.

Town Administrator John Scruton said the town has 3½ years left on the lease for the current town offices. After the lease expires, Barrington will need to negotiate a new lease agreement if it chooses to have town offices stay there.